Who Will Replace The Special One....

So it’s finally happened, Jose’s spell at Chelsea is over again. After 9 defeats, 1 point above the relegation zone, Mr Abramovich has decided to wield the axe on José for a second time. I’m really 50/50 on this, as my heart said stick by Jose, he’s Chelsea through and through, he loves the club and would do anything for the club. He gave us a league title which we craved for years, however my head said to me enough is enough, a club like Chelsea can’t go on like this, fallouts left right and centre with staff and players alike. Jose publically embarrassing certain player performance i.e. Matic, being subbed on then off after half hour, as a result of constantly criticising referees.

I personally think he’s been given enough time, usually  Mr Abramovich would have wielded the axe in October if results were bad, however Jose was given time to turn results around, but sadly not even the special one could manage it.

With Jose gone, a rumoured £40 million handshake or golden envelope whatever you want to call it, the money actually means nothing to Jose, there’s one that will hurt Jose more and that’s his reputation. He’s one of the best managers in the world, won in every country he’s been in, conquered Europe 3 times, twice in the Champions League with FC Porto and Inter and again with FC Porto in the UEFA Cup now the Europa League. People always compared Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola and Mourinho; they have many things in common, natural winners, successful, European champions, all three treble winners but Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola have never been sacked.

More than likely, Chelsea won’t appoint anyone full time until the summer; they will have someone on an interim basis such as Juande Ramos, who Spurs fans will remember, Brendan Rodgers who managed Chelsea U21’s once upon a time and Guus Hiddink. I personally would prefer Guus Hiddink, however rumours say Juande Ramos has already been contacted by Mr Abramovich with a contract till the end of the season, but after that then we’d have the same discussion again, who will take over from the summer.

 For me there are only two men who could fill the boots of Mourinho. Pep Guardiola or Diego ‘Cholo’ Simeone, I’d prefer the latter, I love watching Simeone manage Atletico Madrid, his passion and enthusiasm to win are second to none, Simeone plays to win and he doesn’t care how he does it, for me personally he would be the perfect fit. Some people will disagree, but how Guardiola likes to play football, I think it would be very hard to implement his style of ‘Tiki Taka’ in the Premier League. Louis Van Gaal has tried and somewhat seems to be struggling and getting constant criticism that possession football is boring, even Wenger plays beautiful football but is 2 FA Cups really enough? I don’t think so either.

With Jose now gone I wouldn’t be surprised if he made a return to Italy, if and it’s only an if, Roberto Mancini doesn’t win the Scudetto (Serie A) with Inter Milan, José will be licking his lips at the prospect of returning to another ‘Home’ as he calls it and bringing the glory days back to Inter.

Just one last thing, Jose thank you once again...

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Is Jose Kicking Himself .....

This season has been one to forget for Chelsea fans, languishing in 16^th place, losing to Bournemouth at home and the players really not stepping it up from last season heroic’s, such as Diego Costa who has only scored 2 in his last 10, throwing the bib a Jose and looking for more of a fight than trying to get a goal. Hazard has not scored in 2000 minutes and has been a ghost compared to last season. Matic has been completely dominated in midfield and looks clueless, the creativeness of Fabregas or lack of it and finally the defence that was dependable and reliable now looks weak and frail.

In all honesty the defence has looked better in recent weeks, however there are still question marks over Gary Cahill, who has just signed a 4 year deal, and wether John Terry can play another season at this level, he’s just turned 35. Finally Branislav Ivanovic who has looked half the right back he was last season and struggled for form. If it wasn’t for Willian, in my opinion Jose would be sacked, he’s carried us through most games including Champions League, scoring crucial goals when we’ve needed it most.

There’s one thing I really can’t understand, what does Oscar do? What does he add, if you’re a number 10 you’re meant to get goals and assists but he doesn’t, to think we had De Bruyne and Mata and we let them both go is barbaric, just look at them now, both are key players for the Manchester clubs. De Bruyne has settled in really well at Manchester City, scoring and assisting nonstop, the same with Mata at Manchester United. If I’m honest, I think Chelsea really could have built something extraordinary with the likes of De Bruyne, Mata, Hazard and not forgetting Lukaku, who has scored in 6 consecutive Premier league matches, no Jamie Vardy but a fantastic feat none the less. If all Chelsea fans are honest, it’s these 3 players we need now to get us out of this situation and deep down Jose must be kicking himself for letting them go. 

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How Good Are Bayern Munich This Season....

Everybody talks about FC Barcelona and the perfect team, I hear a lot of people say "they play football, the way it should be played" and they've got the results and trophies to show for it absolutely. 

Since the arrival of Pep Guardiola in Bavaria, Bayern have gone from strength to strength and adopted his style tiki-taka unbelievable well and it shows here's why. 

Since Guardiola has been at Bayern Munich, they are yet to lose a single game in the first half of the Bundesliga season, they are undefeated in 54 league games before the winter break. Remarkable.

Second half lock-down, Bayern concede goals every now and again however when you do score past Bayern, it's usually a consolation goal with the score finishing up at 5-1 say. But this season Bayern in the Bundesliga are yet to concede in the second half, yep you read that right they haven't conceded in the second half. Solid.

  

This next stat I can't believe, if every shot on target that Bayern faced went in they would still be top of the league, What!!!!! Yep that's right every shot on target they faced went in, they STILL would be top of the league. Looks like Mr Utility man David Alaba is in goal next match. Jaw dropping.

Possession is nine tenths of law, well not quite for Bayern, however have a impressive average of 72%, what is even more remarkable is their pass accuracy of 89% on average in the Bundesliga. Controlling. 

Douglas Costa is the man that just keeps on assisting, the Brazilian has settled very well into the Bayern team after his summer move for €30 million from Shaktar Donetsk, registering 9 assists and all in all replaced Frank Ribery in the side. Visionary.  

There are many fine combinations nowadays from strawberries and cream to Jack Daniel's and Coke but none other than Muller and Lewandowski scoring 25 goals, at this point they are the best striking duo in Bundesliga history's in 13 match days 25 goals between them. Clinical. 

Marvellous Muller, in the 4-0 demolition against Stuttgart, Muller not only scored but it would be his 150th Bundesliga win in 209 attempts, that's madness nearly 75% of the Bundesliga games that Thomas Muller has played in he's won, to top it off he's the fastest player ever to achieve this feat and One of Bavaria's finest through and through. Sublime. 

And finally goals galore, Bayern score for fun and their never content with just a 1-0 win, it's like a loss to them. But in 13 of their 19 games this season, Bayern have scored two goals or more in less than 20 minutes with of course Lewandowski's 5 in under 9 minutes against Wolfsburg been the most noticeable feat. Breathtaking. 

Good luck to Borussia Dortmund trying to win back the Bundesliga your going to need it. 

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Can Giovinco Lead Italy to Glory in France This Summer...

In the Gil Azzurri (the Blue’s), we’ve always had a number 10 that could do impossible things with the ball at their feet, Il Divin Codino (The Divine Ponytail) Roberto Baggio, Il Re di Roma (The King of Rome) Francesco Totti and even in some cases the Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia (The Jewel of Old Bari) Antonio Cassano. These players have been idolized by Italians for years for their creativity, passion, flair and love for colours of the shirt.

I’m looking at the squad now and I’m thinking to myself, where is that magic number 10 now? is there anybody when you need it most to unlock that defence, or produce a piece of pure magic that will take your breath away and leave you speechless, its 0-0 with 3 minutes to go in a semi final, who can do this in the Azzurri at the minute? Candreva from wide right maybe or El Shaarawy however there both wingers, but for me it needs to be a number 10 Marco Verratti can play as a number 10 but Verratti is unplayable on his day in the Pirlo role so for Euro 2016 that’s where I think Antonio Conte will play him, for me it leaves Sebastian Giovinco.

Since Giovinco’s move to the MLS, I thought like many what on earth is he going there for? Let’s be fair Giovinco has thrived at Toronto FC, scoring an incredible 22 goals and providing 16 assists in his debut season is astonishing, which also is a MLS record for the most goals and assists combined, Giovinco has produced moments that have left you speechless or asking how has he done that? Being in the MLS team of the week on 10 occasions, two time MLS player of the month and with this being awarded Newcomer of The Year sadly the MVP award is given out till December 3^rd so we’ll have to see if Giovinco picks that up as well furthermore these performances haven’t gone unnoticed rumour has it that Toronto FC rejected a loan move for the pint sized Italian to go to FC Barcelona, after the MLS season finished. have a look at the at the pint sized Italian and see what you think. 

My only criticism of Giovinco is can he cope with the pressure of being the Azzurri’s number 10? To unlock that defence in the dying minutes of a quarter or semi final. Giovinco really struggled at Juventus with the pressure of being the heir to legendary forward Alessandro Del Piero, I’ve got my fingers crossed that Giovinco will come good for Italy at the biggest stage and none other than France 2016.

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Is Michael Emenalo To Blame For The Chelsea Slump?

Michael Emenalo, has been at Chelsea for years now, starting off as chief scout for 2007 after the departure of Ray Wilkins, Emenalo was promoted by Mr Abramovich to assistant first team coach, less than 9 months in the job, half way through 2011 Emenalo was promoted to Technical Director overseeing the scouting and academy programs.

This is the interesting part with the return of the special one in 2013 Emenalo, by request wanted his contract terminating, to free himself up to take the role of General Manager at Wigan Athletic, however this request was denied.

When Emenalo was promoted to Technical Director, he was rumoured to have an unprecedented amount and responsibility over transfers, as in the summer with the lack of signings coming into Stamford Bridge. There are claims that Emenalo has made signing without Jose seeing them play, a recent example of this is, Papy Djilobodji from Nantes who has only appeared once in the Carling Cup, which basically says to me that, Papy Djilobodji was not Jose’s signing at all.

Emenalo has been involved in some cracking deals, with the likes of Kurt Zouma and Bertnard Traore, who especially Zouma has been supurb since he arrived from St Etienne and flourished under the guidance of Jose and John Terry. However there have been more huge flops recently they are Mohamed Salah and of course Juan Cuadrado who both only managed half a season before being shipped out on loan, after struggling to get past Hazard and Willian respectively. Both now are now on loan in Italy Salah with A.S Roma who is touted to have a clause in the loan deal where at the end of season A.S Roma will pay £22 million for the Egyptian International and Cuadrado with Juventus until the end of the season.

With Chelsea in a state of crisis, these are expensive failures and with the need to balance the books with the prospect of Chelsea missing out on Champions League football, some maybe accountable and that someone could be Michael Emenalo.

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Is The Klopp Is Ticking For Both Rodgers And Mourinho...

So after another defeat the clock is ticking for two managers in particular, one being obviously Jose Mourinho and the other Brendan Rodgers who both have really struggled for form at the beginning of this season, with Chelsea 11 points of the pace and Liverpool a bit better off with 8 points of leaders Manchester City who are yet to concede or drop any points.

As for Mourinho, this is contrasting compared to how Chelsea stated the season last year they where ferocious, tearing teams apart Fabregas and Hazard was superb, Diego Costa was unplayable, the defence as solid as a rock and ever reliable nothing ever seemed to faze the back four of Branislav, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta. Now they all look like a shadow compared to last season.  

Will both these manager get time to turn fortunes around? I think they will but it will be now till Christmas if I’m honest. The situation at Chelsea looks like history is repeating itself with Mourinho all over again, a slow stuttering start, performances not great struggling to score, looking fragile in defence as well at this moment in time; it really doesn’t look good for Jose.

  

To be fair we all know Brendan Rodgers is a slow starter, however he’s again a lot on money bringing the likes of Roberto Firmino, Benteke and Nathaniel Clyde, so the pressure’s on Rogers for sure, and would the Liverpool board accept no Champions League football for a second successive year, me personally no I don’t think they would.

As for Brendan Rodgers Liverpool have given him time in the past, however you can only take so much until you have to make a decision, so we stick or change, Rodgers still hasn’t won anything with Liverpool which is worrying, he continues to play a 4-3-3 which doesn’t suit the players he’s got, if I was Brendan I’d go back playing 2 up top, it worked when SAS (Suarez and Sturridge) and that’s personally what he need to do.

Is there any good candidate’s to take over either Chelsea or Liverpool? There’s one man Jurgen Klopp, loves to play fast flowing attacking football, likes possession and a high tempo passing, Klopp thrives off playing a 4-2-3-1 which I know Chelsea play but when Klopp was at Dortmund there wasn’t a dull moment form the fantastic performances his team played right through to his facial expression on the bench. This Klopp is ticking for both Rodgers and Mourinho, they need to be very careful before either the Liverpool board run out of patience or Mr Abramovich wields the axe on José once again.

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Manchester United's Best Signing of The Window...

So after signing a new contract, David De Gea was immediately reinstated back in to the fold at Manchester United after agreeing a new 4 year deal with an option of an extra year. My question is why would he sign a 4 year deal? Well a few things spring to mind.

 1. De Gea’s place in this summer’s Euro 2016 squad was being compromised by the lack of first team activity.

2. Has De Gea realised how dreadful the Madrid faithful can be i.e. with Bale, Ronaldo and Iker Casillas.

Bale scores the winner in the UEFA Champions League Final to give Madrid a record breaking 10 title known in Spain as La Decima and Copa Del Rey Final, goes from been hero to zero in the space of 4 months.

Ronaldo who is on another planet has scored a minimum of 50 goals in each of his last 5 seasons,which is extraordinary futhermore Ronaldo is now Real Madrid's all time top goalscorer and if he where to fire a few blanks in the coming game weeks he would still get booed which is preposterous.

(One for the Ladies if your reading)

Finally Iker Casillas, who had represented Real Madrid superbly throughout his 25 year association with Los Blancos, Iker even had to release his own press conference as Madrid didn’t, which sparked fury across the media for the lack of respect that Madrid gave Saint Iker.

I think one of the most important factors behind De Gea signing a new deal at Manchester United is none other that  ... Sir Alex Ferguson himself. Yes that’s right I said it Sir Alex, it’s well known Sir Alex hates Madrid with a passion, the Manchester United legend once said ‘he wouldn’t even sell Real Madrid a virus’. If it could be anyone to swing De Gea’s mind it would be Sir Alex.

 Now we shall see where the next chapter of De Gea’s Manchester United careerwill take him. Will he be there at the start of next season or not, because personally he’s in the one of the best clubs in the world at the moment, fans adore him and worship him like a Saint and finally he’s key to Van Gaal and Manchester United’s plans going forward. however this has happened before with Real Madrid, it pains me to say they always get there man, could this follow similar suit to Cristiano Ronaldo, he signed a new deal then the following year moved to Madrid, could this be history repeating itself. This is coming from a Chelsea fan, I hope it’s not however one thing I do know, is Real Madrid don’t go away easy, Florentino Perez and Real Madrid will do whatever it takes to get there man.

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